Editor, Gazette-Journal:

One of the talking points that has recently become an irritant to me, and I suspect many others, is “Unfunded Mandate.” You hear it frequently, even in media commercials. I heard it again today.

Social Security is lumped in with Medicare as an unfunded mandate. The reason my and your Social Security is unfunded is that Congress for the last 40 or 50 years has been stripping those paycheck-withholding contributions and spending that money elsewhere. Some would call the spending they’ve been doing on favorite projects, “pork barrel” or “earmarks.”

The original law establishing Social Security specified the funds collected were to be placed in a trust fund, for those of us who had contributions withheld and paid into the program. The trust fund died long ago.

Social Security is not an unfunded mandate. It never will be because taxpayers make those payments with every paycheck t...